Pod Pit

Lisa Millward and I have known each other through work for several years. First encounters were with Mercia Financial Planning where she worked under the umbrella of that company and then later as she and her husband set up Millward Wealth Management. I assisted with the identity design and brand development for her new company and since then we have continued to stay in touch and I’ve noticed so many parallels in our family lives - we’re a similar age with children at similar ages and our daughters are both called Emily!

• Lisa introduces herself, talks about her career and her new business Millward Wealth Management
   
  • Contact Lisa via her website: www.millwardwealth.com
• We talk about running a family business and juggling family life
• The challenges presented by lockdown
• Working at home and homeschooling three children of different ages
• How to share jobs and roles
• How she has coped!

Lisa's top tips for...

• Breaking into the finance industry and setting up your own practice
• Working for yourself with children at home
• Lisa reveals what advice she would give herself two years ago if she was able to travel back in time!

I've taken the Zoom recordings of Pod Pit onto YouTube for anyone who prefers to watch as well as listen! Check out the Design Pit channel where episodes 1 to 9 are up and all future episodes will be uploaded to in the future.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiQPAI9R0IN9MjyuK7YtqRg/videos

Also, this is a call for listeners to feedback and request specific content topics, themes or questions for guests. I'm all ears and open to requests that will make the podcast better for everyone listening in!

Please email your comments, requests and feedback to me at [email protected] and I will endeavour to respond to each and every one!

Aaron Whiffin is the owner of Webbed Feet UK, a web development agency in Salisbury. We’ve known each other since mid-2020 when we met at a networking event called The Boardroom Network. Aaron and I share similar views and opinions on the creative industry as a whole and I wanted to get him on to talk in more detail about Speculative or Picth work.

Contact Aaron at Webbed Feet here:

[email protected]

Read the article that sparked this chat here:

https://www.webbedfeet.uk/news/why-we-dont-do-speculative-design-work

Why are we talking about spec work?

• THAT Linkedin post that I published…
• The 50/50 response to THAT post
• Aaron’s attitude to spec work

Digging deeper…

• Attitudes to purchasing services is much more aggressively focused on price
• People have access to buy cheap on Fiverr for example
• No room to negotiate because people aren’t patient enough to listen to why
• Pace of life getting faster?
• Is this a millennial thing - people want to take maximum out with minimum input?

David Whitehouse is a web specialist based in Staffordshire. He runs digital marketing agency Inlife, from their Burntwood base in the heart of the midlands. We’ve known each other for a number of years as we started our businesses around the same time in 2011/2012. Since then David and I have collaborated on numerous projects to design and develop websites for businesses all over the UK and across into Europe. Our friendship has seen us tackle a Three Peaks challenge and several exercise challenge videos on our fitness channels, Wilderfit and Lift Pit.

David can be contacted for web enquiries and free website audits at:

Email: david@inlife

Website: www.inlife.co.uk 

In this episode of Pod Pit, we discuss the world wide web…

• The evolution of the internet in our lifetime
• How David feels the web has been good and bad for us
• What he feels will be the next big thing for web based tech
• What he thinks our children will inherit in terms of the world wide web

Wendy Hill is a nutritionist based in the Midlands. I’ve known her for a number of years and she was a client in her previous business, a construction company called GBP. Since exiting that business, she’s gone on to work as a nutritionist and helps people to get to grips with food and “Ditch the Diet” forever! Wendy is an experience podcaster and hosts a great show called “Are You REALLY going to Eat That?” which is available on Apple Podcasts and via her website (below)

Website: https://hillstart.me.uk/ 

Email: [email protected]

Podcast: https://hillstart.me.uk/podcast/

In this episode of Pod Pit, we talk at length about eating for productivity whilst adapting to new working habits and how our relationship with food has changed during lockdown

Wendy shares her top tips for eating for productivity and also her wisdom for starting to change our habits early to eat better as we start to exit lockdown.

I'm super excited about this one because it is an interview with my first boss, Peter Howard. Over the years, Pete and I have become great friends and I have so much respect for him as a designer and a businessman. While working with Pete, I learnt so much about the graphic design industry and had my eyes opened to lots of the unseen, untaught soft skills of the business world.

In this episode, we talk in detail about the way the graphic design industry has evolved into what it is today.

This is a great listen for any creatives out there and also businesspeople who will no doubt find takeaways from the chat about an industry that touches so many other areas of business...

Check out Pete's website here: www.phddesign.co.uk and if anyone would like to get in touch with him, [email protected]

An incredible story about a self-employed English copywriter married to a Canadian, living in Berlin while expecting a baby and planning to move back to Toronto... or Derby. Ross' story is unique and as he's lived it he has had to show positivity in his mindset, decisiveness under pressure, resilience in the face of adversity and bravery when faced with life changing options to choose between.

The English Copywriter is Ross Lowe, a native English copywriter and content specialist with almost 15 years of experience in marketing and media. Ross has created content for big-name brands and corporations around the world, including FedEx, the BBC, UEFA, the Football Association, Saab, Boots and Design Pit ;0)

Among his working network, Ross has paired with professional translators to ensure that anyone and everyone in the world can benefit from native English copy that really delivers.

• I’ve known Ross since 2012 when we met at a trade show. We’ve collaborated on projects and we’ve worked for each other over the years in design and copywriting.
• Ross’ contact details: www.theenglish-copywriter.com / [email protected]
• Ross discusses his journey from working for the BBC in London to moving home to Derby and setting up his business that has ultimately led him on a journey across the globe from the UK to Canada to Berlin
• We delve into how it feels to be working in a foreign country during a pandemic
• Ross opens up about the imminent arrival of his first child
• Ross gives his top three tips for anyone who is faced with a decision whether to travel for work

Paul Felton is an incredibly successful graphic designer with over 50 international design awards to his name. His career takes in agency jobs in London and Birmingham and then establishing a small agency of his own with offices in Birmingham and London. Paul and I open up about life in design, motivators for doing what we do, challenges, goals and adjusting to parenthood as a self employed business owner. In a powerful and insightful episode, we cover many areas of creativity, business and family.

See Paul’s company website here: http://commoncuriosity.co.uk/ 

Overview of our relationship
Paul and I went to university together and became good friends during our time at Staffordshire University in Stoke on Trent. We’ve kept in touch all these years and followed each other’s careers in the design industry since we started out in 2005.

Intro Paul and his business 

A whistle stop tour of Paul’s career from finishing uni and moving to London for his first role. 

WHY?

Why Why is a word that is used a lot in the Common Curiosity studios…

Challenges in business

This is a Covid free zone! Paul discusses the challenges of running a small agency in two major cities.

Adjustment into parenting

How becoming a parent just before lockdown has changed Paul as a person, what he’s enjoyed about being a dad and how he’s adjusted his days to look after his little boy.

 Goals for the future

What Paul is working to achieve with his business as he looks ahead

Top three tips for students leaving uni over the next few years

Listen in to find out!

I’m joined by Lee Gill from Flow Office Interiors. Lee is one of Birmingham’s best known networkers and a talented interior designer. He will be discussing the workplace before Covid, now and in a post-Covid world. We touch on the impact of workspaces on mental health, productivity and happiness in the workforce.

Lee and I have known each other for a number of years now, we met at a networking organisation in the midlands around 6 or 7 years ago. I’ve seen Lee’s business really take off in recent times as he drives it forward with business partner Spencer Turner.

Lee Gill - [email protected] | 01922 453 488 | www.flowoffice.co.uk

• Workplace design for the modern world
• Style, comfort, productivity how they all link together
• The workplace in a post-covid world
• How you feel the workplace will change
• Impact on our mental and physical health
• Home office
• Top three tips for home office spaces
• Top three safety tips for the post-covid office space

Listen in for the key takeaways from the podcast!

I’m joined by Vicky Damerell, a data expert who has forged a career in many areas of digital marketing. Vicky helps to break down data and why it is so important to businesses of all shapes and sizes.

Vicky is my sister in law and has worked in sales and more recently in digital marketing across a variety of areas. She is now working for Market Location in data.

WEBSITE: https://www.marketlocation.co.uk/ 

Vicky introduces herself, the company she represents and gives an introduction to data:

• What data is as a general business concept
• The power of demographics
• Recognising the opportunity
• Different types of data
• Brief top and tail of GDPR*
• Controlling and using data effectively
• Three top tips on obtaining quality data and using it effectively
• Listen in to find out!

*Please note, Vicky would like to make clear that she is not a GDPR expert and all views discussed are her own interpretation of the GDPR laws. GDPR laws and rules are notoriously ‘cloudy’ and open to interpretation for every instance where they may become relevant. Please source and consult a compliance expert if you are unsure about any GDPR queries surrounding your business.